When
author
Craig
Calman
was
a
mere
teenager,
he
drew
a
pencil
sketch
of
Laurel
and
Hardy.
Little
could
he
have
imagined
that
a
few
years
later
he
would
actually
meet
Hal
Roach,
their
boss,
that
genial
purveyor
of
joy
and
laughter.
Even
less
could
he
have
imagined
all
the
adventures
and
brodies
that
were
yet
to
unspool.
Calman,
a
former
fifteen-year-old
comedy-crazed
kid
from
San
Diego,
made
a
Laurel
and
Hardy-style
comedy
on
8mm
film.
In
1973, when
he
was
twenty
and
an
undergraduate
of
the
UCLA
Motion
Picture/Television
Department,
he
first
met
Hal
and
interviewed
him
extensively
for
his
term
paper
on
American
Film
Comedy. Years
later,
ninety-six-year-old
Hal
invited
Calman
to
stay
in
his
home
and
help
prepare
the
script
for
his
“comeback
comedy.”
This
book
contains
personal
anecdotes
of
Calman’s
friendship
with
this
pioneer
producer
Hal
Roach,
and
presents
a
complete
and
detailed
overview
of
his
career,
from
the
adventurous
youth’s
arrival
in
Hollywood
in
1912 during
the
earliest
days
of
moviemaking
to
the
creation
of
a
studio
dedicated
to
the
production
of
worldwide
popular
film
comedies
